Bill Cassidy on TARP: For it, then against

As a state senator running for a U.S. House seat in 2008, Louisiana Republican Senate candidate Bill Cassidy argued passionately for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, calling it necessary to save the U.S. economy.

Running for reelection two years later, Cassidy took the opposite position, checking “no” on a voter guide question asking if he “supports taxpayer bailouts of the financial industry.”

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Democrats are calling the shift by Cassidy and other Republican incumbents hypocritical, arguing that they backed TARP when the economy hung in the balance but decry government bailouts now that they’re up for election. On Tuesday, POLITICO reported that Matt Bevin, a tea party-backed challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), also changed his position on the Troubled Asset Relief Program – he signed a document supporting it as an investor but has attacked the program during the campaign.

At an Oct. 13, 2008, debate, Cassidy said TARP “had problems, but having said that, sometimes you gotta accept problems for the greater good.” He added that bailing out Wall Street would help local small business owners get needed loans and protect retirees’ benefits.

Reached for comment Tuesday, Cassidy campaign spokesman John Cummins acknowledged the earlier comment but noted that Cassidy did not participate in the debate about the bank measure or cast a vote for it.

Cassidy’s opponent, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) voted against TARP. Cummins said she voted to release the second tranche of bailout funds in 2009, just after she’d been reelected.

“Then she voted against an amendment to rescind TARP funds and apply them to the national debt,” said Cummins. “To top this off, Mary Landrieu cast a critical vote for Dodd-Frank, permanently institutionalizing a culture of too-big-to-fail.”

A Landrieu spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A poll published Tuesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Landrieu leading Cassidy by 1 point, 45 percent to 44 percent, with Republicans Paul Hollis and Rob Maness pulling 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The top two finishers in the November election face a run-off in December if no one gets 50 percent.

“I guess Democrats have to say something,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee strategist Brad Dayspring. “Mary Landrieu’s polls have tanked, she’s explaining why she can’t be counted to keep her word, and she’s directly challenged voters in Louisiana to make her race a referendum about Obamacare. It’s no wonder the DSCC is peddling such thin broth.”